Leafs set to sign Petri Kontiola

[Andy07]

Well you can sift through this with a finn tuned comb and make light of the finn-ancials but per-selanne I like the lower risk deals like this in-finn-intely more than shelling out 4-4.5 million on a longer term Legwand deal.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Somebody do one of those capgeek lineup things and figure out how much cap space and roster spots the Leafs have left.  Do it.

Since you asked so nicely:

CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster

FORWARDS
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Leo Komarov ($2.950m) / Petri Kontiola ($1.100m) / Matt Frattin ($0.800m)
Carter Ashton ($0.851m) / Peter Holland ($0.851m) / Colton Orr ($0.925m)

DEFENSEMEN
Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m) / Roman Polak ($2.750m)
Jake Gardiner ($3.500m) / Cody Franson ($2.500m)
Morgan Rielly ($0.894m) / Stephane Robidas ($3.000m)

GOALTENDERS
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
James Reimer ($2.300m)

BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
Tim Gleason ($0.833m)

RETAINED SALARIES (0.29% of upper limit)
Carl Gunnarsson ($0.200m?6.35%)
BONUS OVERAGE

$450,000

------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,653,500; BONUSES: $850,000
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $5,346,500

It's still hard to say really because we don't know what Gardiner, Franson, and Reimer's salaries will be (or if the last 2 will even be on the team), but I think I made somewhat fair estimates.

So there's about $5mil to bring in a bottom-6 forward to bump Orr to the 13th F spot, a 7th defenceman, and another skater who can give those two company in the pressbox.

 

[Frank E]

Thanks C...getting a little tight there for Legwand plus another few.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Thanks C...getting a little tight there for Legwand plus another few.

Yup, it's a little closer than I thought. If you the team ends up trading Franson and replacing him with a Marlie making less than $1mil that frees up some room. You could waive Orr too and replace him with somebody making closer to the league minimum to free up $200-300k. Maybe Nonis uses his patented "oops we used all our cap space" technique to get Gardiner and Reimer to sign deals for less than what I put down.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Thanks C...getting a little tight there for Legwand plus another few.

Yup, it's a little closer than I thought. If you the team ends up trading Franson and replacing him with a Marlie making less than $1mil that frees up some room. You could waive Orr too and replace him with somebody making closer to the league minimum to free up $200-300k. Maybe Nonis uses his patented "oops we used all our cap space" technique to get Gardiner and Reimer to sign deals for less than what I put down.

I don't see Gardiner making 3.5...Under 3 for him and maybe 2 for James....but what do i know?

And I like this signing....not a fan of Legwand at this stage of his career.

 

[ZBBM]

I saw this thread, and thought "Who?"

Then I thought, "Please God, let him be a center."

Then I saw this:

Hmm...quoted from the article linked above.

Known primarily as a playmaking centre, he amassed 112 assists and 175 points in 258 regular-season KHL games for Traktor and Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

In 12 NHL games with the Blackhawks during the 2007-08 season, Kontiola had five assists.

Dear, dear God, thank you for answering my prayers.  I will never take your name in vain again.

Now I can spend all season talking about "Petri dishes."

 

[freer]

Dude, you have way too much time on your hands.. Just saying

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Thanks C...getting a little tight there for Legwand plus another few.

Yup, it's a little closer than I thought. If you the team ends up trading Franson and replacing him with a Marlie making less than $1mil that frees up some room. You could waive Orr too and replace him with somebody making closer to the league minimum to free up $200-300k. Maybe Nonis uses his patented "oops we used all our cap space" technique to get Gardiner and Reimer to sign deals for less than what I put down.

Dreger says Gardiner is likely to file for arbitration.  Think that impacts his leverage in contract negotiations with the team?

 

[Highlander]

Watch the highlite real, this guy has wheels and a lot of finishing skill. Looking at the footage I can agree he may have more talent than any of our existing centres.

http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2014/07/03/petri-kontiola-signs-with-leafs/

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Another opinion, from Steven Ellis, TV Host of The Hockey House on TVCogeco (which doesn't mean much to me, but presumably he watched him at the WC whereas I didn't):

@StevenEllisNHL

best forward at the 2013 Worlds, and thats saying something considering how good Radulov and Kovalchuk were.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Komarov-Kontiola-Hartikainen as a 3rd line is intriguing.

 

[bustaheims]

Komarov-Kontiola-Hartikainen as a 3rd line is intriguing.

If they can get Hartikainen to come over . . . though, he's probably more a 4th liner.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Hartikainen might be a useful 13th forward, but I don't see room for him in the top-12.

 

[bustaheims]

Hartikainen might be a useful 13th forward, but I don't see room for him in the top-12.

I imagine he'd be fighting with Ashton for the last spot on the 4th line. Not a huge difference between them in terms of age or AHL production. I think Ashton has more upside and is more likely to be able to move up in the lineup, but, on the 4th line, not a huge difference between the two. That being said, I'm not sure Hartikainen is going to leave the KHL. He's probably earning a lot more there than he would here.

 

[Mr. Leaf]

I probably should know better, but I  have to admit I am kind of excited about him after watching that highlight reel.  He scored a lot of nice goals and had a lot of nice moves in it.

Also, I can't put into words how awesome it is that he is the "I don't know." guy!  ;D

 

[hockeyfan1]

I probably should know better, but I  have to admit I am kind of excited about him after watching that highlight reel.  He scored a lot of nice goals and had a lot of nice moves in it.

Also, I can't put into words how awesome it is that he is the "I don't know."
guy!  ;D

Same here.    Actually,  considering his niftiness, he'll provide some highlight reel goals for us fans.  Right Petri?  Welcome to Toronto!

 

[L K]

Hartikainen might be a useful 13th forward, but I don't see room for him in the top-12.

I imagine he'd be fighting with Ashton for the last spot on the 4th line. Not a huge difference between them in terms of age or AHL production. I think Ashton has more upside and is more likely to be able to move up in the lineup, but, on the 4th line, not a huge difference between the two. That being said, I'm not sure Hartikainen is going to leave the KHL. He's probably earning a lot more there than he would here.

The only think I could see him doing is the Komarov thing where he signs a 1-year deal to show what he can do with the intention of making more money if the year works out.  I don't think he would work out in the same way, although I'm not against bringing in bottom 6 guys who have complete level (NOTE: I am only using that line in the hopes that if it starts to get over used that Nonis/Shanahan will stop).

I like this move.  Low risk (cheap 1 year contract) and moderate potential for reward.  He clearly has some skill and if he's as good a playmaker as some of the hype on the internet implies, that isn't a bad thing to have.  Good passes was another one of the Leafs weaknesses last year with far too many guys who just push the puck in the direction of their teammate rather than finessing it.  Hard passes are great if you are trying to just get the puck out, but guys who can actually move the puck in traffic are extremely valuable.

 

[A finnish leaf fan]

Thought I'd chime in as a Finn who has seen quite a lot of Kontiola. He's a very skilled playmaker and a good skater too. Based on talent alone he could be - like others have already said - the best center on the Leafs. I think his linemate at this year's worlds, soon-to-be-Blue Jori Lehter?, managed to miss almost 10 empty nets from Kontiola's passes. There are reasons why his previous visit to the NHL wasn't successful though. First of all he is often trying to make the fancy play at any cost, leading to bad giveaways (this was especially evident at this year's World Champs where Kontiola almost single-handedly gave the go-ahead goal to Canada in the quarter final - fortunately for us Finns Scrivens gave two back and we won ). He has a decent shot but his tendency to go for the pretty play leads to him not using it enough. Also, typically for a skilled player he is not overly physical though he doesn't shy away from puck battles in the corners.

In a nutshell he should definitely be tried on the PP where he truly shines. During even-strength play he'd be best paired with defensively responsible wingers who are good at finding their way close to the net - I'm thinking Komarov and Santorelli would be good linemates for him. For a Finn it's gonna be interesting to see two countrymen on the Leafs for the first time since Niklas Hagman and Vesa Toskala five years ago.

 

[ZBBM]

Thought I'd chime in as a Finn who has seen quite a lot of Kontiola. He's a very skilled playmaker and a good skater too. Based on talent alone he could be - like others have already said - the best center on the Leafs. I think his linemate at this year's worlds, soon-to-be-Blue Jori Lehter?, managed to miss almost 10 empty nets from Kontiola's passes. There are reasons why his previous visit to the NHL wasn't successful though. First of all he is often trying to make the fancy play at any cost, leading to bad giveaways (this was especially evident at this year's World Champs where Kontiola almost single-handedly gave the go-ahead goal to Canada in the quarter final - fortunately for us Finns Scrivens gave two back and we won ). He has a decent shot but his tendency to go for the pretty play leads to him not using it enough. Also, typically for a skilled player he is not overly physical though he doesn't shy away from puck battles in the corners.

In a nutshell he should definitely be tried on the PP where he truly shines. During even-strength play he'd be best paired with defensively responsible wingers who are good at finding their way close to the net - I'm thinking Komarov and Santorelli would be good linemates for him. For a Finn it's gonna be interesting to see two countrymen on the Leafs for the first time since Niklas Hagman and Vesa Toskala five years ago.

Thanks a lot for this assessment.  We always get excited when an unknown player suddenly pops up as a FA so it's good to hear from someone who actually knows Kantiola's pros and cons.

I also agree it will be cool to have a couple of Finns on the roster.  Suomi kutsuu!

 

[leafplasma]

Thought I'd chime in as a Finn who has seen quite a lot of Kontiola. He's a very skilled playmaker and a good skater too. Based on talent alone he could be - like others have already said - the best center on the Leafs. I think his linemate at this year's worlds, soon-to-be-Blue Jori Lehter?, managed to miss almost 10 empty nets from Kontiola's passes. There are reasons why his previous visit to the NHL wasn't successful though. First of all he is often trying to make the fancy play at any cost, leading to bad giveaways (this was especially evident at this year's World Champs where Kontiola almost single-handedly gave the go-ahead goal to Canada in the quarter final - fortunately for us Finns Scrivens gave two back and we won ). He has a decent shot but his tendency to go for the pretty play leads to him not using it enough. Also, typically for a skilled player he is not overly physical though he doesn't shy away from puck battles in the corners.

In a nutshell he should definitely be tried on the PP where he truly shines. During even-strength play he'd be best paired with defensively responsible wingers who are good at finding their way close to the net - I'm thinking Komarov and Santorelli would be good linemates for him. For a Finn it's gonna be interesting to see two countrymen on the Leafs for the first time since Niklas Hagman and Vesa Toskala five years ago.

Thanks for the evaluation, he seems to be a Kadri type player, so maybe just like we have seen with Kadri some NHL tutelage could reel in some of his defensive shortcomings.  How Kontiola responds to that as he turns 30 to open the season will be the key.  I am not so sure I want him on the third line shutdown group with Komarov and Santorelli though, however he may need some defensive guys to shelter him so perhaps you're right. The thought of him on the wing with Lupul and Kadri could lead to the defensive apocalypse, although that line could provide lights out offence.